a blog for the recreational runner and triathlete trying to balance life, family and running

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

My Magical Mystery Tour

Disney Wine and Dine 2012 Race
Report- grab a coffee, it’s long.

So, do you believe in magic? Well I do and I had a magical night at Disney. The Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon was
the last big run for the year and my first night race so I thought I would need
a bit of fairy dust and a fairy godmother to get me to the finish line but in
fact my Mizuno’s did just fine. My t-shirt summed it up ‘Forget the glass
slipper, this princess wears running shoes’.

We spent Friday shopping, I was supposed
to do a 4K run but opted for a day of shopping, I think it was a harder workout
and by the time we reached the Expo at 5pm, I was tired and my feet were
sore. The kit pick-up was easy and I
managed to get moved up a coral based on my Army Run time. They had photo opportunities everywhere and
Run Disney sure knows how to provide customer service. The Expo was in a different building and was
huge. I had fun buying things I never
saw before in Canada. I splurged and
bought runner earbuds and some t-shirts, one a triathlon shirt and I was
thrilled to find that one. Another fun
find were shoe charms, I bought one for each shoe (have to be balanced right)
left shoe says 'powered by fairy dust' and the right shoe says 'I run for wine'. I bought my finishers t-shirt and hoped I
would be able to wear it home, knock on wood (I did wear it home).

Saturday was an odd day since the
run was at night. We went back to the
Expo in the morning and then spent the day by the pool relaxing. It was warm and sunny but it was hard to do
nothing while you are at Disney. I was
excited but relaxed, a bit nervous but nothing like before the Army Run. Eating was interesting but I got through the
day without incident. One big thing
about Disney races, you have to be there so early and you have a long wait to
start. I brought my Go Lean Crunch from
home and found Greek yogurt on site so I brought my snack to eat at 8pm. At 9pm
they asked us to go to our corral, 70 mins before the race start. The entertainment was great and I had time to
talk to other runners and the time passed quickly.

At 10:10 we started with a bang…the
bang of fireworks that is. OK, let’s get
this done. I usually start too fast and
get slower as I go but I wanted to stay consistent this time, I was aiming for
a 7:00-7:15 min/km pace with walk breaks and photo stops (or a 12 min
mile). We started on the highway and it
was dark, I forgot my light so seeing my Garmin was tough but I decided to go
by how I felt and not clock watch too much.
I felt great as I started and was enjoying the crowds and the
entertainment. I was surprised at how
much running we did on the highway (mile 1-3) but eventually we got to the
Animal Kingdom (mile 3-6). It was nice
seeing the park at night and it took your mind off the running. Back to the highway (mile 6-9) to run to the Disney
Hollywood Studios, our next park. At mile
9 or the 15K mark I hit the wall at the Army Run and I hit it again here, luck
for me it was the wall of the Tower of Terror and nothing else. We were now running through Disney parks to
the end and it helped take your mind off the last 4.1 miles, there was so much
to see. The downside was the paths were narrower
and there were a lot of walkers so the running was harder and slower. This was one of the big differences I noticed
between running in Canada and the US, or at least the Running Room runners and
other runners. We are taught to signal
we are about to take a walk break and move to the side to allow the runners to
pass easily, it was easy to spot the RR runners who were doing this during the
run and the others were stopping wherever and walking 3-4 abreast and blocking
the path, grrrr.

So I never hit the wall, in fact I
had a great run. I stuck to my plan; my splits at 5k, 10k, 15k and 21.1k were
all between 11:50 and 11:54 mins per mile and my finish time was 1 min off my
Army Run time even with all my photo stops along the way. I finally felt like a
runner, I felt so good as I finished, all my training and hard work came
together and it was truly magical. Then
it was time to party!!!

After I made it through the
finish line and changed, I found Leah and we walked around Epcot, eating and
drinking our way around the world. I was
a little bit sore and had a blister on my big toe but felt great. By 3am I was ready to crash and we headed
back to the hotel. Staying on site is
the way to go, they provide transportation to the event and the hotel and it
was so easy to get around. The next day I had a bit of tightness in my
quads and my right knee but nothing major and certainly not enough to stop me
from shopping some more. Monday we went
to the Magic Kingdom for some rides and to celebrate, it truly is the most
magical place on earth!

Run Disney runs a great event,
they think of everything. There were tons of water stops on the race, the
entertainment was great and the finish line went really smooth, no big lineups
or bottlenecks. Now I am looking forward
to 2 months of reduced training before it all starts again and I do another
half marathon in early May. We will be back in Disney January 2014, Neale to run the Goofy and me to do my first marathon, I can't wait to go back! This truly
was the most magical way to end my training year!

5 comments:

Yahoo! It sounded very motivating, and you planned your run well. I admit, I was thinking about you a lot this weekend, hoping your run went well, looking for Facebook updates. Way to go on your achievement! The park must look so different at night with runners everywhere. Did you find it harder to run that late at night?

2014 might be a year we plan on doing a Disney run (we'll see if we can afford it), and meeting up with all my stateside friends. I've been to Disney lots, but never quite like that.

the running at night was not a big deal, I thought it might but I was fine. I had a nap at 3 and coffee at 4 and ate my normal morning meal 2 hours before I run like I do for morning races. Running the parks at night was cool! I hope I get to cheer you on in 2014 for your race, I have lots of tips, we will talk.

Great job! I think i'd have a really hard time running a half marathon at night. And I've totally noticed that there are way too many people who stop and walk without moving to the side in races outside of Ottawa!!

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About Me

I am a wife, a mother, a business owner and an athlete. I swim, bike and run...slowly. I started my journey in 2009 by losing 70 lbs, discovering running and fulfilled my long held dream of being a triathlete.